


Nail Polish

by GallifreyanFairytale



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, I mean sort of, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Nail Polish, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, i watched all of s1 in a day and i have many feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 02:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18306281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanFairytale/pseuds/GallifreyanFairytale
Summary: Klaus really likes the look of his nails when they're painted.Or, the first five times Klaus painted his nails + one time he painted Dave's nails





	Nail Polish

**Author's Note:**

> I binged all of season one yesterday and, as I usually do when I catch up/finish a new show, I ended up writing an angsty one shot about a character I got overly attached to. And I'll probably be back with a one shot about Five at some point because I adore him and I would die for him.

Klaus was six the first time he painted his nails.

 

Okay, so it was actually Allison who painted them, but the point still stands. He’d passed by Allison’s bedroom and the door was open and Klaus could smell the nail polish and Allison’s nails always looked so pretty. So he timidly crept in and asked her if she could teach him how to paint his nails. She let him pick out what color he wanted (he chose blue) and very carefully painted his fingernails. And they were beautiful.

 

Klaus’ nails had been painted for three days before his dad noticed. Klaus could see the silent anger brewing behind his dad’s expressionless face and when he was tossed into the bathroom with Allison’s bottle of nail polish remover and the door was locked behind him, Klaus realized he really should have known to hide his nails from his dad.

 

_“You’re not leaving until every speck of nail polish has been cleaned off,”_ his dad said from the other side of the door. His fingers were red and stinging from scrubbing so hard and the stench of the nail polish remover was making it hard for Klaus to breathe only an hour after he’d been locked up. It was four more hours before Pogo unlocked the door.

  
\---

 

The second time Klaus painted his nails, he was ten, and he was much more subtle.

 

This time, he painted his toenails with nail polish he’d stolen from Vanya, who, even if she noticed it was missing, wouldn’t tell anyone. But Vanya didn’t paint her nails; the nail polish was more of a half-hearted sympathy present because Allison had gotten nail polish in every color she wanted. Vanya’s nail polish was purple, and if Klaus was being honest, it looked spectacular on him.

 

He lasted two weeks this time before he forgot to put socks on with his pajamas one night and Mom saw his painted nails. She’d said they looked nice, but she couldn’t go against Klaus’ dad’s beliefs. So he was locked in the bathroom once again, this time for much longer. He ended up spending the night curled up on the rug, hoping the smell of the nail polish remover wasn’t going to kill him.

  
\---

 

The third time Klaus painted his nails, he was thirteen.

 

It had been less than a month since Five’s disappearance and no one was taking it well. Klaus needed a distraction, so he painted his nails bright pink with nail polish he’d found in Allison’s room while she was showering. He didn’t try to hide it from his father, but it still took a day and a half for him to notice while they were gathered for dinner.

 

Klaus was dragged away from the table and locked in the bathroom once again. Mom let him out after four hours and Klaus quietly went straight to bed.

  
\---

 

The fourth time Klaus painted his nails, he was fourteen.

 

This time, he chose a much softer shade of pink, and he took his time, making sure it looked as nice as he could possibly make it. The next day, the members of the Umbrella Academy had a public appearance scheduled - a meet and greet with people their age - and Klaus wanted to look his best. Even if his idea of ‘his best’ was different from his father’s.

 

At the meet and greet, there was a boy with blonde hair and a soft smile that made Klaus’ heart flutter. When his father noticed Klaus staring at him too long, he hit the boy’s arm and told him to focus. It was then that his father noticed the painted nails.

 

Klaus lost track of how long his father yelled at him once they returned home before he was sent, once again, to the bathroom. It was hard to fall asleep when all Klaus could think about was his father’s harsh words about how Klaus had looked at that boy and how cold the bathroom floor was, even through the rug. And the ghosts that kept trying to speak to him in languages he didn’t understand didn’t make things any easier.

  
\---

 

The fifth time Klaus painted his nails, he was seventeen.

 

The night before his eighteenth birthday, Klaus painted his nails the colors of the rainbow - more to make a statement than anything else - and announced at breakfast the next morning that he would be moving out, effective immediately.

 

Klaus wasn’t the first one to leave, nor was he the last, but he was the only one who waved goodbye with his middle finger as he walked out through the front gate, the orange nail polish glinting in the sunlight.

  
  
\---

 

The first time Dave had his nails painted, he was twenty-eight.

 

Klaus had made some nail polish using berries and other ingredients Dave couldn’t remember. He assured Dave that he painted his nails all the time, so he knew what he was doing. He applied the makeshift nail polish to Dave’s fingernails very carefully. It was red, because that was the only color Klaus could make with what they had, but Dave didn’t care. After he’d painted Dave’s nails, Klaus painted his own, using up the rest of the polish.

 

_“They look beautiful,”_ Dave whispered as he brought Klaus’ hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to his knuckles. Dave and Klaus’ superiors must have been pretty lenient, because no one said a word to them about it. No being locked in the bathroom for hours on end, suffocating in the scent of nail polish remover, no falling asleep with tears running down their cheeks, no smacking or shouting. Just red fingernails and Dave’s grateful smile.


End file.
